


another sleepless night

by Managarmr



Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Porn with Feelings, Sharing a Bed, alfyn being a useless homosexual, therion being a useless bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 08:18:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Managarmr/pseuds/Managarmr
Summary: Therion likes saving money more than he hates Alfyn invading his personal space. Alfyn likes Therion, full stop.





	another sleepless night

It’s on his fifth monster encounter out of Bolderfall that Therion realised he was going to need a partner. Or, at least, someone that knew how to treat wounds better than he did. He’d managed this far on his own, bandaging himself up where needed or wolfing down healing grapes when he felt particularly unwell. It was a risky and desperate means of keeping himself alive when he was in danger, but it usually did the trick, and if it didn’t he’d just sleep it off. If there was one thing Therion knew, it was that you didn’t make it long as a thief if you got done in by your injuries. In the past, missing a single day of his usual rounds meant that he’d often go without food, and while those days were behind him he wasn’t keen on the idea of returning to them.

And so, he came to a pretty simple conclusion: he needed to find a travelling apothecary. Hopefully sooner, not later.

Bolderfall had no apothecaries or anything of the sort really. The nobles were rich enough to keep themselves in good health, and the lower class couldn’t afford it. Most apothecaries rarely visited Bolderfall because they knew there was no business to be had there, so Therion figured he’d have to go about finding one another way. There was one tried and true method of gathering information that he knew of, and, minor complications aside, it hadn’t failed him yet.

The barkeep greeted him as usual.

“Didn’t expect to see you back so soon, if I’m honest,” he said. He reached behind him and pulled out a tankard, which he filled and passed to Therion in one smooth motion.

“Yeah well,” Therion said as he took a swig from his drink, “I don’t want to hear that from you. It’s your fault I'm in this mess.” The barkeep laughed. Therion took another sip before continuing.

“Heard anything about any traveling medics or anything? I might have a problem getting to where I’m going with all these monsters everywhere.”

The barkeep gave him a once over.

“I can see that. What did you even bandage your arm with? Is that a rag?”

Therion shrugged and held out his tankard for a refill. “It was the cleanest one I had on me.” The rag in question was covered in blood and dirt and was tied tightly, albeit a bit clumsily, around Therion’s forearm. He also had a couple of small gashes on his chest, which wasn’t anything new, but they were starting to sting a bit.

“The flame take me if you don’t get an infection,” the barkeep sighed, when he noticed Therion wincing as he reached to pick up his drink again,  “but you might have some luck in Clearbrook over in the Riverlands. It’s nearby and I’ve heard one or two patrons mention getting treatment there.” 

“Say no more,” Therion said. He slid some leaves over the table to the barkeep and stood up, downing his drink in one go. He’d never been to the Riverlands, but now was as good a time as any. 

 

 

 

 

Therion was by no means used to the finer things in life (excluding the many different treasures and precious gems he’d lifted off nobles over the years). After toughing it out in the slums of Bolderfall for so many years, he’d become accustomed to small town living. That being said, Clearbrook was by far the smallest hicktown he’d ever come across. Even the villagers that had greeted Therion at the village entrance had a deep country accent that he’d only heard once or twice before when travelers came to the tavern back in Bolderfall. He hadn’t given it much thought when he’d been picking their pockets of course, but now he found himself just a little bit intrigued. However, now wasn’t the time to get distracted. He had no intentions of staying here long. The monsters in between Bolderfall and Clearbrook hadn’t been too much of an issue, but in the days it had taken to get to the small town, he’d sustained a couple more scrapes and bruises and it was starting to wear him down.

After stopping a woman for some quick questioning, Therion learned the directions to the home of an apothecary by the name of Zeph. Apparently he was one of two practitioners in the area, but Therion only needed one for the road and hadn't bothered asking about the other guy. He lifted some healing grapes off the woman for her troubles, and made his way to Zeph’s house. It wasn’t very far, a short walk and he'd already spotted the sign hanging from the building. As he was about to note to himself that this had been a lot less trouble than he'd been expecting, someone rushed out of Zeph’s front door and barreled straight into him. Before Therion had even realised what had happened, he was sent sprawling to the floor.

“Oh darnit! You alright?” a voice said from above him. Therion brushed the hair out of his eyes and looked up. Standing in front of him was a man, maybe around his age, with scruffy brown hair. The man offered his hand. Therion frowned.

“Maybe watch where you're going next time,” he said. He ignored the man’s help and stood up on his own, brushing the dirt off of his scarf and mantle.

“Sorry ‘bout that. I was all in a rush and didn't see you,” the man said. “Name’s Alfyn by the way. Alfyn Greengrass.”

Therion stared at him. “I didn't really ask.”

Alfyn smiled. “It's just good manners is all.”

“I’m sure,” Therion said. His good mood from earlier had left, replaced now by slight irritation. “Look, I’m kind of in a hurry here. Is Zeph in?”

“Sure is! Although I don't think now’s the best time to go callin’ on him. His sister's sick and he’s got his hands full keepin’ an eye on her and makin’ sure she's ok. In fact, I'm kind of in a rush myself. Will you be here later?”

The question caught Therion by surprise.

“Why?” he answered warily.

“Well I'm busy now, but if all goes well with Zeph’s sister I can get you a drink later.To make up for knockin’ you flat just now.”

Therion eyed Alfyn with complete suspicion. He couldn't really guess what there was for Alfyn to gain from offering him a drink, which made accepting a bad idea. On the other hand, Therion wasn't one to turn down a visit to the tavern, especially when it was on someone else's coin.

“I'll be here,” he said after a long pause.

“Great! What’d you say your name was again?”

“I didn't.”

Alfyn laughed. “A mystery kinda guy huh? I'll see ya later then.”

Therion watched as Alfyn ran off in the opposite direction. Alfyn seemed like an odd guy he decided. With that out of the way, he returned to the issue at hand. If Zeph was busy minding his sick sister, Therion doubted he'd be interested in leaving Clearbrook anytime soon. However, Therion had absolutely no interest in delaying his trip any further. He'd already started noticing the Clearbrook residents eyeing his fool’s bangle with suspicion, and the sooner he got out of here before people realised they were missing their stuff the better.

 

 

 

 

 

It had just approached early evening. Therion had decided to pass the time stealing what he could from the town's residents before trying to find lodgings for the night. After renting out a room at the local inn, Therion headed back into the town. He wasn’t particularly happy about spending the money on a room, but after the previous nights spent half-asleep out in the wilderness on the alert for monster encounters, he figured getting to sleep in a real bed would be worth it.

After a couple of minutes of searching, Therion found the tavern where Alfyn had told him to meet up. He wasn’t sure when Alfyn would be finished with whatever business had sent him to the monster infested caves that sat outside the village, but he figured he could get a headstart on his free drinks.

“Bit early to be drinking don't you think?” the barkeep said as Therion sat down at the bar. Therion snorted.

“Bit odd for a barkeep to discourage his customers from drinking, don’t you think?” he said.

“You might have a point,” the barkeep smiled, “what can I get you?”

“Your best mead please, and some information if you don’t mind. I’m curious about the apothecaries here. ”

“You mean Zeph and Alfyn? What about?” 

If Therion had been drinking he would've spat it out on the counter.

“Alfyn?” he said incredulously. “He’s an apothecary?”

“So you've met him? He's pretty good at his job. For a greenhorn anyways.”

Therion tried to picture the scruffy man from earlier as a practiced apothecary. To his surprise, it wasn't that hard. A bit too chatty for his tastes though, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

“Well I'll be damned,” Therion said. 

It was at that moment that Alfyn walked into the tavern. He looked surprised to see Therion when he spotted him.

“You're here earlier than I thought you'd be,” he said. He was beat up, sweating as if he'd ran all the way here from the caves. He looked like he'd just fought off someone at least three times his size as well, but Therion decided not to mention it. He didn't really care all that much.

“There wasn't much else to do. In case you haven't noticed, this town isn't all that big.”

Alfyn sat down next to him and ordered two drinks.

“Just the right size if you ask me.”

Therion wasn't sure if Alfyn had purposefully ignored Therion’s jab at Clearbrook or had simply misunderstood, but Alfyn seemed genuine enough that it made him curious.

He decided to remain quiet. He drank slowly, in part because he was pacing himself and in part because his wounds made it a bit painful to move. If Alfyn noticed he didn’t comment. It didn’t seem to matter too much to him anyways, because soon enough Alfyn had knocked back more drinks than Therion could count, and it didn’t look like it had affected him at all. Therion spent the majority of the night watching Alfyn alternate between drinking and talking, and it seemed that Alfyn didn't seem to mind, as he talked enough for the both of them. 

“Nina’s doing alright now in case you were wonderin’. Oh! Nina is Zeph’s little sister, I think I forgot to mention. Or maybe I did? Can’t remember. That snake bite had one hell of a kick to it but it's nothing ol’ Alfyn can’t fix.” He laughed, and then took another large sip from his drink.

“So you're an apothecary huh?” Therion said.

“Sure am! Been practicin’ medicine for some time now so I have a pretty good grasp of it, if I do say so myself.”

“Is that right? So, between you and your friend Zeph, who’d you say is better?”

Alfyn seemed to consider that for a while.

“I’d say maybe it’s me. Don’t tell Zeph I said that though. I’d never hear the end of it from that guy if he knew.”

Therion snorted into his drink. Alfyn continued.

“Skills aside, I’d bet fifty rounds that this village will be in good hands when I’m gone.”

Therion raised an eyebrow. That had gotten his attention for sure. “When you’re gone?”

At this Alfyn looked shocked at his own words.

“Shoot,” he said and scratched at his chin, “I guess the drink’s loosened my mouth a little.”

Therion scoffed. “A little?” he said, “You've been chatting my ear off all night.”

To Therion’s amusement, Alfyn actually looked offended.

“Only because you're so quiet! I've held longer conversations with a gravestone.” Even when trying to be insulting, Therion found Alfyn still sounded good-natured. To top it all off, Alfyn had finally managed to get drunk it seemed, if the light blush on his cheeks was any indication. It was all annoyingly endearing, which Therion didn't like. In an attempt to ignore that random turn of thought, he decided to steer the conversation back to where it had started.

“Let’s go back to you leaving town for a second,” he said, “I thought you lived here? Why would you leave?” He crossed his fingers under his mantle.

“Well, you’re not from around here so you wouldn't know much about when I was younger,” Alfyn said, “but you're a good ear to have around so I guess there ain't no harm in tellin’ you why. Even if you still haven't told me your name.”

“Ideally it’d stay that way,” Therion said, “but if you insist. It’s Therion.”

Alfyn nodded. “Therion,” he repeated. For some reason, hearing it come from Alfyn’s mouth made Therion feel jittery. He took another sip from his drink, and decided that maybe the alcohol had started to get to him too. He usually didn't drink this much around strangers, but part of lowering Alfyn’s (admittedly weak) guard around him was matching how much he drank, and apparently Alfyn didn't know the meaning of the word restraint.

“Don’t you have a last name?" 

Therion hunched his shoulders involuntarily, then mentally scolded himself for showing any signs of discomfort. He put his tankard down. No more drink for him tonight.

“No, I don’t.”

Alfyn flapped his hand, as if to dispel any tension his comment might have caused. “All the same, it's nice to properly meet you Therion!” Alfyn said. He took his drink and lightly tapped it against Therion’s.

“Sure.”

Alfyn chuckled and looked into his drink. He was silent for a bit.

“The truth is,” he said, “I've wanted to leave the village for some time now. Make my own as a traveling apothecary.”

Therion could hardly believe his luck. He thought he'd have more trouble with his little sidequest when he’d first left Bolderfall, but now, here was Alfyn, as if Aelfric himself had descended from the heavens and presented him to Therion on a silver platter.

“Sounds like a great idea,” Therion said, laying on the charm he used when trying to swindle victims.

Alfyn smiled warmly. “You think? I’m all set to go too. But…”

“But?” Therion echoed.

“I’m worried about what’ll happen with the villagers if I go.”

Therion pretended to consider Alfyn’s statement. “Your friend’s an apothecary though right? What happened to ‘I bet fifty rounds the village would be in good hands’?”

Alfyn scratched at his head. Therion noticed that he scratched himself a lot when he was unsettled.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine but I can’t help but worry. If somethin’ happened to anyone here while I was gone I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.” Alfyn looked down into his mug. He looked absolutely miserable, which Therion was by no means prepared to deal with.

“Alright alright don’t get all mopey. Just talk things through with your friend. Look, I’ll even go with you.” Therion said. If it seemed like he was panicking Alfyn didn’t notice. Instead, Alfyn had looked up from his mug and looked at Therion strangely. Therion shrunk back under his gaze, and eventually turned away.

“Stop staring at me,” Therion said. 

Alfyn laughed. “You’re a pretty nice guy huh?” That caught Therion off guard.

Therion stood up. He waved over the barkeep. “We’re done here for tonight.”

The barkeep, who had obviously been listening in on their conversation (if the poorly hidden smile on his face was any indication) walked over and began to collect their empty tankards.

“It’s about time,” he said, “thought Alfyn here was gonna drink me out of my business.”

Alfyn looked affronted. “If it weren’t for me you wouldn’t even have a business,” he said. Therion was amazed he was even speaking coherently considering how much he’d had to drink, even if his words were starting to get a bit slurred. Alfyn dug around in a satchel hanging from his shoulder and pulled out a few crumpled leaves.

“That had better be enough this time,” the barkeep said.

“If it isn’t just add it to my tab,” Alfyn said as he grabbed Therion’s arm. He leaned in to Therion’s side. “Let’s make our escape, it’s definitely not enough,” he said quietly. Therion pushed him off, flustered.

“Get your ale-breath out of my face,” he said weakly, but Alfyn had already gone out the door. Therion stood there for a bit, unsettled, but eventually followed Alfyn outside. 

The cool air of the night helped to clear the fog of alcohol from Therion’s head. He looked around and saw Alfyn only a little ways off, walking perfectly fine despite how much he had drank. Therion called after him. They had talked for a good while inside the bar, but Therion had yet to actually ask Alfyn to leave town with him. Although, at the moment, he was starting to wonder if travelling with Alfyn was a good idea. He didn’t like how chatty the apothecary was, since he wasn’t too good at dealing with people like that. However, his wounds had been stinging him all night, and it was enough of a nuisance to consider looking past Alfyn’s loud personality.

While lost in thought, Therion didn’t even notice that he had passed Alfyn on his way back to the inn, until the man in question had grabbed at his arm. Again. Therion was starting to get tired of this.

“Where’re you goin’?” Alfyn asked. 

Therion shook free from Alfyn’s (surprisingly strong) grip, and dusted off his mantle for good measure.

“The inn,” he said, unamused, “where else?”

Alfyn looked shocked, as if what Therion had said hadn’t been a completely reasonable response.

“Oh… I was hoping you’d come back to my place,” Alfyn said, sounding disappointed.

Therion was sure he hadn’t heard that right.

“Excuse me?” His voice was shaky, with irritation or something else, he wasn’t sure. That jittery feeling from the bar had started to come back, which annoyed him. So much for the cool air clearing his head.

Alfyn looked confused. Before he could speak again, Therion cut him off. “What do you think just happened in that bar that would get me to sleep with you?”

Alfyn’s face exploded in a deep blush. “Sleep with-? That’s, that’s not what I meant!”

“Then why else would you want me to go home with you?” Therion said. He was now probably as confused as Alfyn looked, and since they were both still standing around in front of the inn, he was sure they looked incredibly stupid to anyone who might’ve been watching. 

Therion noted with heavy irritation that Alfyn had started scratching at his beard again. He’d never encountered someone so obvious with their emotions, and yet he found he couldn’t understand Alfyn at all.

“You’re injured aren’t you?” Alfyn said. Therion gave him an incredulous look. He hadn’t been trying too hard to keep his injuries a secret, but he didn’t like to display any obvious signs of weakness either. The fact that Alfyn had picked up on it surprised him.

“So what?” he said. 

It was Alfyn’s turn to look incredulous, which annoyed Therion to no end. By now, this entire night was starting to give Therion a headache.

“So… I’m an apothecary? The least I could do is give you a once over to see what’s wrong.” 

 _Oh. Right._ Therion thought. This had been why he’d come to Clearbrook in the first place. Therion was suddenly embarrassed beyond belief. He could feel his face heating up at the realization that he had accused Alfyn of trying to get him in bed, when all the scruffy man had wanted was to do his job. He pulled his scarf over his face, hoping it was dark enough that Alfyn wouldn’t notice how red he was.

“Lead the way,” he said eventually. Alfyn smiled.

 

 

 

 

 

Alfyn’s home was small, but cozy. Therion decided immediately upon entering that he liked it, which annoyed him even further. Part of it was that he didn’t want to like anything to do with Alfyn at this point, seeing as the man had sent him on an emotional roller coaster that was easily more strenuous than any of the monster encounters he’d had in the past week. The other part was that he’d never had a home of his own, and although he was used to it by now, something about Alfyn’s house had brought those feelings back up. Needless to say, upon stepping through the door Therion was extremely put off. He had half a mind to just leave and get Zeph to leave with him, by force if necessary, Nina be damned. At this point, the only reason he was even still entertaining going with Alfyn was because he could tell the man already had his heart set on leaving. Plus, from his ramblings earlier on at the bar, he was headed to the east like Therion, which would make them partnering up even more convenient. It felt like everything was telling him Alfyn was his best bet, and while Therion didn’t particularly like this turn of events, he also wasn’t one to ignore such obvious signs. 

While Therion went over in his head what he should do about the situation, Alfyn sat on his bed and began to rifle through his satchel. When he pulled out what looked like some kind of salve, he motioned Therion over.

As Therion made his way over, he began to take off his mantle. When Alfyn noticed the low cut of Therion’s shirt, he blushed. Therion frowned, confused. 

“What?” he said. 

“Nothing,” Alfyn said quickly. Alfyn clearly didn’t have enough shame to avert his eyes Therion noticed, but he wasn’t surprised. Most people stared at him when they noticed how many scars he had on his body, so it’s not like it was anything new. He wasn’t offended, and he honestly didn’t care that the scars were there, but something in Alfyn’s eyes annoyed him. It wasn’t pity (thankfully), but it still bothered him. It bothered him even more that he didn’t know what it was.

“What?” Therion asked again, more irritated this time.

Alfyn blinked out of whatever trance he’d put himself in while staring at Therion’s bare chest. “Hell, it’s just that you’ve got so many scars,” he said, “and some of them don’t look all that new.”

“My life hasn’t been all cushy like yours,” Therion said. He held his hand out for the salve, which Alfyn passed to him gingerly, as if he were trying to avoid startling a cat.

Therion decided that how well this salve worked would be a test to see if travelling with Alfyn would be worth it. Any apothecary worth their salt could at least fix up a few scrapes, which was all Therion figured he’d need for the road anyways. If he didn’t feel better by morning, he’d try somewhere else, and he could forget about Alfyn and Clearbrook and this entire ordeal.

Of course, the salve worked almost immediately. Therion removed the dirty rag (ignoring the wince from Alfyn when the apothecary realised what Therion had been using in lieu of a proper bandage) and applied the salve. Within minutes, his arm already felt better than it had in days. This came as both a relief and an annoyance. He didn’t know much about apothecaries, but clearly Alfyn was a skilled practitioner. Therion began to take off his shirt so he could reach his chest. The majority of his newer injuries were on his torso, since he usually tried to avoid injuries to his arms and hands. While he did this, Alfyn busied himself with digging around his desk.

After his chest and shoulders were done, Therion realised with some dread that he couldn’t rub the salve on his back properly.

“Alfyn,” he said. Alfyn, probably not expecting Therion to break the silence so suddenly, dropped whatever he was holding in his shock. Therion watched as Alfyn scrambled to pick it up and hit his head on the underside of his desk.

“What...are you doing?” Therion asked.

“You startled me is all,” Alfyn said, clearly embarrassed, “did you need me for somethin'?”

“Help me with my back.” 

“Oh…right. Sure” Alfyn said, “I can do that. Yeah.”

The bed dipped as Alfyn sat behind him. He passed the salve over to Alfyn, who took it wordlessly and began to apply it. His hands were clammy as they rubbed the salve into Therion’s back. It probably wasn’t worth it to ask and find out what the hell had Alfyn so nervous, so he sat there quietly and let Alfyn do his job.

“I’m guessin’ you’re not gonna tell me about all’a these scars huh?” Alfyn said.

“You guessed right,” Therion said.

“Yeah I thought so, still, must’ve been one helluva monster, ” Alfyn said, “it got you in the back pretty good.”

Therion stood up abruptly. “Are we done here?” he said. He had to fight to keep his voice steady.

Alfyn watched him carefully. “Just about,” he said, “you can uh…” Alfyn cleared his throat. “You can, put your shirt back on now.”

As Therion did just that, Alfyn packed the salve into his satchel and stood up. When Therion pulled out some leaves from his scarf and handed them to Alfyn, Alfyn smiled and handed them right back.

“Treatment’s on the house,” Alfyn said.

Therion stared at Alfyn as if he had suddenly grown a pair of antlers.

“I’m not complaining, but you understand that being an apothecary is a job right? And that jobs usually mean that you get paid? A job is a service provided in exchange for money, in case you weren’t clear.” 

Alfyn laughed. “‘Course I understand that! But when somebody’s in need I just don’t have the heart to charge ‘em. This salve’s pretty cheap anyways, so you don’t have to worry about me or nothing.”

“I’m not worried,” Therion said a little bit too quickly, “I don’t care.” 

Alfyn smiled. “You’re a good guy, Therion.” 

“Whatever,” Therion said. He pocketed his money and headed out the door, ignoring as Alfyn called out a goodbye from behind him.

 

 

 

 

The next morning Therion woke up feeling better than he had in days. The salve had worked beyond his expectations, and although there were still faint traces of scars left behind, he figured they’d fade in a couple of days. He stepped out the door into the town. It was still early, just a little bit before dawn. Therion figured the less people around to see the direction he left town in the better. Although he was reluctant, he made his way over to Alfyn’s house. It had occurred to him right before he went to sleep that despite yesterday’s events, he hadn’t actually asked Alfyn if he was interested in leaving town with him. That had been his entire reason for coming here, and yet somehow it had completely skipped his mind.

Therion usually wasn’t this scatterbrained. Being a thief meant that he had to execute his plans near perfectly or he’d run the risk of getting jailed, but now here he was at a loss as to how to bring it back up into conversation. By the time he arrived at Alfyn’s front door, he still wasn’t sure about how to ask.

 _Screw it,_ he thought, _I’ll just wing it._ But, when Therion knocked on Alfyn’s door, there was no answer. He tried a couple more times, not caring if it was rude. He doubted Alfyn had a hangover. Surely anyone who drank like that knew by now how to avoid them, but the sun had barely come up in the sky yet so it wouldn’t make sense for him to be outside. Therion briefly considered picking the lock and letting himself in, but decided against it. No sense in drawing attention to himself either. With nothing else to do, he decided to do another walk around the town and do some thieving. He’d be leaving soon enough anyways.

As he made his way through the town looking for victims, he spotted a familiar face up by the cemetery. Sure enough, it was Alfyn. Therion watched from below as he chatted with a man in a green vest that matched Alfyn’s own. Therion realised belatedly that that must’ve been Zeph, and that they were probably talking about what Alfyn had drunkenly admitted to him yesterday night at the bar. The conversation seemed to be wrapping up though, as Alfyn had turned away and started to leave the cemetery. Suddenly Therion felt nervous. He didn’t want it to look like he’d been eavesdropping, but there was nowhere to hide. Before he could abscond back to the inn, Alfyn spotted him.

“Therion? What’re you doin’ here?” Alfyn looked both surprised and pleased to see him.

“I was getting ready to leave,” Therion said. He was suddenly glad his arms couldn’t be seen under his mantle, because that way Alfyn wouldn’t notice him rubbing his sweaty palms on the front of his pants. What the hell was wrong with him?

“So soon?” His surprise changed to...disappointment? Therion couldn’t tell.

“I didn’t plan to stay that long.”

“Oh…Well where’re you headed?”

“Noblecourt. It’s to the east over in the Flatlands.”

Alfyn scratched his chin. Therion raised an eyebrow at that. He was nervous again for some reason Therion realised, but nothing in their conversation had given him any reason to be.

“So I was thinkin’, since you know I want to leave town and all that right? Head out on my own and do my own thing.” He paused, as if he was considering his next words carefully. Therion found this surprising. In the short time he’d known Alfyn he’d come to realise that Alfyn just said whatever he was thinking.

Therion waited for Alfyn to continue.

“So I was wonderin’ if you’d…” Another pause. More scratching behind his head. By now Therion more or less knew what Alfyn was trying to ask, and it was only the fact that Alfyn had more or less saved Therion from having to ask himself that he decided to be merciful. Otherwise he would’ve just watched Alfyn squirm for a little longer. 

“You want me to travel with you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah! Yeah I do,” Alfyn said. Now that that was out in the open, he didn’t look all that nervous anymore. “How’d you know?" 

“Lucky guess.”

“So whadd'ya say?”

Therion pretended to think it over. As exhausting as Alfyn was to deal with, he already knew the answer. No sense in wasting time finding someone else, especially with this bangle still clamped around his arm. Still, he had an image to protect.

“Why not,” he said. Alfyn’s face lit up like a candle.

“Alright! Wait for me here, I’ll go get my stuff,” he said. He ran off towards his house. As Therion watched him disappear down the road, he hoped that he wouldn’t come to regret this decision later.

 

 

 

 

 

“The fastest way to get to Noblecourt from here would be to head around through the Wood and Frostlands,” Therion explained, pointing out their destinations on the map he had purchased earlier. Alfyn didn't know he was a thief, which was why he had bought the map instead of his usual methods. However, Therion had definitely noticed him eyeing the bangle with some skepticism on their way out of Clearbrook. If he noticed Therion’s travel pack getting any bigger, or Therion suddenly pulling apples out of nowhere, he said nothing.  Therion figured he’d address it when they were farther from Clearbrook than just the next town over. Therion didn’t make a habit of stealing deeply personal items because they were easier to track instead of say, a handful of healing grapes or some leaves, but he wanted to avoid Alfyn nagging him to return what he’d stolen to the villagers anyways. He figured it’d be easier to get out of doing that the farther away they were.

The pair were currently sitting at a table in the corner of the tavern back in Bolderfall. Therion was less than happy about backtracking right back to where he’d started, but at least he’d gotten something for his troubles. He’d decided against going back to visit Cordelia and Heathcote. There was no need to, and once the barkeep had spotted him he’d probably let the nosy butler know Therion was back in town anyways. 

Alfyn looked carefully at the map. “Why’d you say you were headed to Noblecourt again?”

Therion snorted. “Nice try. Like I’d let that slip.”

Alfyn snapped his fingers. “Damn, guess I really can’t get past you huh?” 

“I’d say you’re only one hundred years too early to be trying to pull a fast one on me.” 

Alfyn laughed. “Can’t say I didn’t try.” He looked at the bangle on Therion’s wrist before continuing. “You’re not doin’ anything illegal are you?”

“Would it bother you if I were?” Therion was long past feeling shame over his choice of profession. Still, it’d be a wrench in his plans if Alfyn started getting in the way of his work because of his morals. 

“Yeah a little,” Alfyn said, “guess I’m just too trusting though. You don’t really seem like all that bad a guy, and my eyes’ve never failed me yet!”

Therion pulled his scarf up over his face. “You should probably get them checked.”

“Aw, are you feelin’ shy?” Alfyn said. There was a dopey smile on his face as he tried to peer over Therion’s scarf.

Therion glared at him.

“Jeez,” Alfyn said, “nice guy or not you’ve got one helluva glare.”

“How about you stop fooling around so we can get back to our plans hm?” Therion said.

“Right, right.”

Alfyn returned his attention to the map. He was headed to Goldshore, which was over in the Coastlands. It was a bit out of the way of Noblecourt, but not so far that it would put Therion too far off track on his way back to Bolderfall.

“Do you have any idea where you’re headed after Goldshore?” Therion asked. He was busy drawing out their route with a quill.

Alfyn looked at the map for a bit before he shrugged.

“Not really. I figured I’d just let my feet take me where they wanted to go.”

“Poetic,” Therion said as he rolled his eyes, “but that doesn’t tell me when we’re gonna split paths or not.”

Alfyn looked shocked. “Split paths? Why would we do that?" 

“Why wouldn’t we?” Therion said, “I definitely have places to be that you don’t.” 

“Oh, well I guess that’s true…” Alfyn said. He seemed kind of down all of a sudden. Therion didn’t really know what to say to that, because he didn’t understand what about what he’d said had seemed wrong. This was clearly starting to become a thing with Alfyn, who Therion  was quickly realising he could hardly understand at all. However, he figured it’d be pointless to ask him about it further, and folded up the map. Alfyn’s silence was unsettling him though, so Therion decided to change the topic.

“How about some drinks?” Therion suggested. That seemed to do the trick. At the mention of alcohol, Alfyn brightened considerably.

“First rounds on me,” he said.

After several rounds of drinks, the pair stumbled out of the bar and towards the inn. The walk over had sobered them up considerably, although Therion was sure that Alfyn hadn’t even been all that drunk to begin with despite the fact that Therion had spent a majority of the night passing his drinks off to Alfyn to finish. He didn’t really want to chance getting drunk around Alfyn, but there was also no way he was capable of matching the apothecary’s pace. Alfyn didn’t seem to mind that much either, because it was just more mead for him in the end. Therion wondered how his liver still functioned.

When they finally reached the inn, Therion suddenly realised there was a huge problem he hadn’t considered. The few nights they’d spent on the way to Bolderfall from Clearbook had been spent sleeping outside, taking turns on watch and building fires to keep monsters away. They’d both been sleeping on bedrolls Therion had insisted they purchase back in Clearbrook, but now that staying at an inn was an option again Therion realised that it was likely they’d have to share a room, and even worse, a bed.

This was mostly Alfyn’s fault. He had almost no money to his name, but refused to charge even one leaf for the medicine he handed out like candy to strangers that needed it. The little he did have he spent at the tavern as soon as he got his hands on it. While his free services were just fine if the person in need was Therion, it also meant that Alfyn was basically completely reliant on Therion for everything else. Therion would buy them both food and weapons, as well as whatever else they needed for the journey to run smoothly. It was an arrangement Alfyn had been all too happy to agree to, although he still insisted that Therion didn’t have to pay him at all and he’d still be fine with taking care of his injuries. Therion had told him to shut up, and that had been the end of that. Therion hadn’t even considered inn fees in the grand scheme of things. He mentally chided himself for the lack of oversight as he thought about what to do.

Alfyn glanced down at him out of the corner of his eye as the two of them stood in front of the counter inside the inn. The innkeeper was starting to look a bit impatient. There were no rooms with two beds that Therion could afford, nor could he afford to pay for two separate rooms out of his own pocket. It wasn’t like he didn’t have the money, it just wasn’t on him right now. He didn’t like the idea of dipping into all the savings he kept around the place either, especially for something as trivial as two beds for a simple overnight stay.

“One room please,” he heard himself say. The innkeeper said nothing as she passed over a key and took Therion’s money.

“Thanks,” Alfyn said. Therion turned on him, glare in full force. 

“The next time you don’t charge a patient,” he said, pressing his index finger into Alfyn’s chest as menacing as he could, “they won’t be the only one that needs an apothecary.”

Alfyn smiled sheepishly.

The room itself wasn’t so bad. Therion had stayed here more times than he could count, but even though the innkeeper knew him, she was never willing to give him a discount. Bolderfall was his usual base of operations, especially since the place was crawling with nobles that didn’t know how to keep their eyes on their purses, so he made a habit of frequenting the inn looking for victims. But for some reason, that night the bed seemed just that much smaller. 

Alfyn seemed to notice Therion’s discomfort. What had clued him in was probably Therion’s prolonged glaring at the bed as if it had personally offended him. Which, in Therion’s mind, it had.

“I can sleep on the floor if you want to take the bed,” Alfyn said.

“Don’t be stupid,” Therion grit out through his teeth, “you can’t take the floor.”

“Not to be rude or anythin’, but I honestly wasn’t expectin’ that from you,” Alfyn said. 

Therion clicked his tongue in annoyance, but decided not to entertain that comment. “We both need a good night’s sleep if we’re going to be heading up to the Woodlands,” he said.

“You reckon?” Alfyn said. Was it Therion’s imagination or did he sound hopeful? Therion looked at Alfyn’s face with suspicion, but all that he saw was Alfyn’s usual smiling face. 

“Yes I ‘reckon’,” Therion said bitterly as he began to kick off his shoes. “The both of us have never been to that region, and we don’t know what kind of monsters we’re going to be up against. We’ll need rest.”

Alfyn scratched at his chin as if he was seriously thinking over what Therion had said. “Guess I can’t really argue if you put it like that.”

Therion grunted in response and began to remove his belt and pack. He wasn’t particularly shy about undressing in front of people, so he didn’t bother turning away from Alfyn as he undressed. It didn’t matter either way. He was determined to ignore Alfyn until the morning came anyways, if only to dispel the awkwardness that had settled over the both of them due to their current situation. After pulling off his mantle, folding it neatly and dumping it on top of his pack, he climbed into the bed and immediately turned his back away from where Alfyn had begun to take off his own outer clothing. 

The period of waiting for Alfyn to get in bed with him had made Therion incredibly hyperaware, because by the time Alfyn actually climbed in next to him Therion almost shot out of the bed and onto the floor. He hoped Alfyn didn’t realise how much he had tensed up, and then decided immediately that he was being stupid about the entire thing. The bed itself was surprisingly big enough for two people, which Therion supposed was a small victory. He wasn’t actually touching Alfyn either, for which he was grateful.

After a couple of minutes of lying in silence, Therion realised that sharing the bed was pointless if it made him unable to sleep. He hadn’t ever shared a bed with someone before, and while he’d deemed Alfyn completely harmless, it still made him incredibly uncomfortable. That weird jittery feeling had come back for one, and he couldn’t relax. Given the situation, it made sense, but Therion didn’t think of himself as someone that lost his composure easily, so it still came as a bit of a shock that he was feeling like this. Alfyn wasn’t moving either, and Therion could hear him softly breathing next to him. He rolled over as gently as he could, and was surprised to find that Alfyn was asleep.

 _I’m just behaving like an idiot for nothing._ That only served to piss him off more, but being annoyed was something he was used to, rather than this nervousness he’d been feeling recently. He closed his eye. There was no reason to be awake with useless thoughts like these if Alfyn had managed to fall asleep before him. With some difficulty, he managed to fall asleep.

Despite the strain on his mind provided by the night before, Therion woke up feeling more well rested than he had in awhile. By now his injuries were completely healed, and sleeping in an actual bed for once made him feel a lot more rejuvenated. For a second, he almost forgot that Alfyn was sleeping right beside him. Almost. It was kind of hard to forget when Alfyn was draped across him like a second blanket. At the realization that Alfyn was in fact cuddling him, Therion’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest. If he looked hard enough, he swore he could see it leaping out the window.

He slapped Alfyn’s cheek hard.

Alfyn, to his credit, wasn’t a heavy sleeper. Therion watched as Alfyn sleepily opened his eyes and stared back at him. If Therion wasn’t so put off by the situation, he would’ve found it funny how he could literally see Alfyn’s mind warming up.

“You have three seconds to let go of me,” Therion said.

Alfyn really didn’t have to be told twice, if how flustered he looked was any indication. He let go of Therion immediately and rolled over so violently that he almost fell off the bed. Therion resisted the urge to just kick him the rest of the way, and chose instead to turn over on his side and attempt to head back to sleep. He’d never been an early riser, and one of the best parts of being a thief was that he essentially made his own work hours. Night or day didn’t make much of a difference for thieving when you were as good as he was. Unlike Therion, Alfyn was an early riser. Careful to avoid touching Therion again, the man had quietly sat up and gotten out of bed to start getting ready for the day. Although he was trying to be quiet, Therion could still hear him walking around the room and rustling through his things. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, Therion had managed to fall asleep in noisier places. However, he found that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fall asleep again. When he closed his eyes, he imagined Alfyn’s arms wrapped around him like they’d been earlier. What concerned him more than the fact that he couldn’t stop thinking about it was that, all things considered, it hadn’t even felt all that unpleasant. With his back turned to Alfyn, Therion knew Alfyn couldn’t see his face. He wasn’t sure what facial expression he was making at the moment, but it definitely felt warmer than was reasonable. It was only after Alfyn eventually left the room that Therion was able to fall asleep again.

Therion woke up again roughly two hours later. It wasn’t yet afternoon, but it was a reasonable enough hour of the morning for Therion to be awake. Alfyn had cleared the room of his own belongings, so Therion figured he must’ve gone ahead of him to the tavern. After thanking the innkeeper and returning the key, Therion decided he’d do another sweep of the town to see if he could pocket anything before meeting up with Alfyn. A nagging feeling in his mind assured him that he’d already robbed everyone blind yesterday when they had arrived, but he ignored it. If he wanted a reason to avoid having to see Alfyn so soon after their awkward not-quite cuddling session earlier then that was his own business. Sure enough, he came up empty-handed, and had almost gotten caught by someone after an uncharacteristically poor attempt. He definitely wasn’t tired, but there was something else throwing him off his game.

With nothing else to do, he made his way to the tavern. Alfyn was sitting there, chatting away with some patrons. When he spotted Therion, he grinned broadly and waved him over.

“It’s about time you got out of bed,” Alfyn said, pulling up an empty chair right next to him. Therion sat, albeit a little reluctantly, next to Alfyn. He had assumed that Alfyn had gone ahead and eaten without him, since he’d already informed the barkeep that anything Alfyn bought Therion would pay for later. As it turned out, that wasn’t the case.

“I wish you had just gotten up when I did,” Alfyn whined, “I’m so hungry I can’t even feel my stomach anymore.”

“Don’t wait for me next time then,” Therion said, “it’s not like you needed to anyways. The barkeep knows your broke ass isn’t paying for any meals.”

Alfyn shrugged, Therion’s insults bouncing off of him as if he hadn’t even heard them. “It didn’t feel right.” 

Therion sighed. He had thought things would’ve been at least a little more awkward, but he largely preferred them just pretending that nothing had ever happened. Which it hadn’t. He didn’t know why he was being stupid about it. Therion didn’t remember being so awkward around people in the past, so he had no clue why things were suddenly so weird for him now. He very rarely slept around, but on the rare occasions that he did he usually kicked his partner out of his room or left on his own once the deed was done. He had no idea how to deal with the morning after, especially with someone he hadn’t even slept with. And yet, here was Alfyn barrelling past everything as per usual, smile plastered onto his face as if he hadn’t been a blushing wreck himself this morning. Therion sighed again. 

“Somethin’ troublin’ you Therion?” Alfyn said. His mouth was stuffed with food, but he’d made the effort to speak with his cheeks full anyways. It was both disgusting and somewhat endearing, although Therion tried his best to see it as mostly the former.

“Just shut up and eat.”

 

 

 

 

There were another few nights of camping ahead of them as the pair made their way to S’warkii. When Alfyn had asked why they were even bothering to stop there, Therion had explained that it would be a good place to stock up on supplies. 

“It’ll probably have an inn and a tavern as well, so we can get some real food and a good night’s sleep,” Therion said.

Alfyn waggled his eyebrows at that. “Didn’t think you’d be so eager to get me in bed again Therion.” 

Therion scoffed. “I think we both know that it’s the other way around,” he said. He was in a good mood that day, which was probably why Alfyn’s usual inappropriate commentary had actually been met with an answer that wasn’t a threat or a jab at his intelligence. Therion could see the shock spread on Alfyn’s face before he broke out into one of the widest grins Therion had seen the man sport yet. 

“Someone’s got a sense of humor today,” Alfyn said, not even trying to contain his delight. Therion rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t count on it sticking around if you’re gonna comment every time I don’t threaten to leave you in the woods by yourself,” he said. 

“And here I thought you liked havin’ me around.”

“Yeah, I just love having to pay for someone who drinks his own weight in mead.” 

“Could’a just said so sooner,” Alfyn said, “I was holding myself back in Bolderfall.” 

Therion recalled very clearly Alfyn drinking several challengers under the table at the tavern. The fact that Alfyn had been _holding himself back_ Therion found incredibly funny, and the next thing he knew he was shaking with laughter.

Alfyn stared in shock, unsure of what to do. Sure Therion had cracked a smirk or two at him, but he’d never even smiled at Alfyn, let alone laughed in front of him. 

“Are you laughing?” Alfyn asked incredulously, “the world must be about to end.” 

At that Therion sobered up, and pulled his scarf over the lower half of his face. He fully intended to just glare at Alfyn, but found that he couldn’t when Alfyn looked for all the world like he had just been told he had won free drinks for a whole year.

“Stop gaping at me like that. You look like a fish,” Therion said instead, although even he could tell there was hardly any bite in it.

“You’re really somethin’ when you smile Therion,” Alfyn said, “you almost look like an actual person instead of a walkin’ cactus in a scarf.”

“If we find an inn, you’re definitely sleeping on the floor.” 

They did in fact find an inn. By the time they get to S’warkii, night was already fast approaching. Therion hadn’t been kidding when he said they needed to be on top of their game to fight the monsters in the area off. He’d done his best to avoid injury, but he still felt dead tired. 

S’warkii was a small town, the hunting tribe living there having grown smaller over the years. Travelers visited from time to time, so the inn had been built to accommodate them. It took no time at all to find, and if Therion had any energy left he would've sprinted the rest of the way there.

As Therion stepped through the door, he knew for a fact the rooms would be expensive, even with the discount Alfyn had managed to talk the innkeeper into giving them. He could be useful in other ways even if he was flat broke. He and Alfyn had just finished restocking their supply of food and Alfyn’s materials, as well as switched out all their weapons for upgrades. His coin purse suddenly felt too light as it hung from his waist. He sighed. He felt he’d been doing that a lot lately.

The innkeeper watched him curiously as he handed Therion the key to their room, and it wasn't until Therion was up the stairs that he realised it was because he hadn’t even bothered to hide the fool’s bangle from view. He doubted many thieves tried to steal from the people here, so he was sure the innkeeper didn't know exactly what it was. Even he had some reservations about stealing from people who could tame wild animals as easily as one might a rabbit or dog. He figured that he could probably just pass it off as an accessory until they left. 

As soon as he saw the bed, Therion pulled off his mantle and collapsed into immediately. It definitely felt nicer than the one back in Bolderfall, and he was almost tempted to get another room for Alfyn just so he could have it to himself. Almost.

He rolled over into his back and inspected his bangle.

“Why’re you starin’ at your hand like that? Are you injured or somethin’,”Alfyn asked. Therion shook his head. He hid his arm under the blanket.

“Just...thinking about something.”

“Alrighty then, if you need me though just holler.” Alfyn hadn't removed his satchel yet, and looked like he had no intentions of joining Therion on the bed.

“Going somewhere?”

“The tavern, care to join me? Drinks always go down better with company.”

Therion didn't really have to think too hard about his answer, being as tired as he was. He pretended to consider it though if only to spare Alfyn's feelings. Then he paused.

Why did he care about sparing Alfyn's feelings? It was definitely out of character, and Alfyn usually didn't care about the insults Therion threw his way anyways; laughing them off with a smile was routine.

Therion chalked it up to being tired.

“I’ll pass,” he said simply. By now he was used to Alfyn looking disappointed when Therion turned him down for something (since it happened quite often), so this time it didn't even phase him. There was however, a little nagging feeling deep down that he could at least join the man for one drink, but he ignored it. There was no such thing as “one drink" with Alfyn.

“Aw, well g’night then,” Alfyn said, “see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah.”

Alfyn gave him another look, one Therion didn't understand. They stared at each other for a bit before Therion eventually conceded and turned to face the wall. He really was tired, and began to drift off before he was sure Alfyn had even left the room.

A couple hours later, Alfyn returned. Therion woke as the door opened, having trained himself to be a light sleeper over the years. He listened as Alfyn stumbled around the room, clearly doing his best to keep quiet but failing spectacularly. Every time he made too much noise he'd curse just a little too loudly. It was obvious that he wasn't sober. The thought of how much it had costed to get Alfyn at least tipsy crossed his mind, but he decided he'd just chew him out in the morning.

He kept his eye closed and pretended to be asleep when he felt the bed dip, expecting the lights to go out soon after. He did not expect the hand that made its way into his hair.

Therion had to resist the urge to move, and then immediately scolded himself for it. He could've just “woken up” and cussed Alfyn off like normal for touching him, but Alfyn’s hand felt...nice as he lightly stroked Therion’s hair out of his face. He was clearly more tired than he thought if he was having thoughts like these. 

Suddenly, Alfyn’s hand disappeared.

“Sorry,” he heard Alfyn whisper, “prob’ly shouldn't do that while you're asleep huh?” And with that, the lights went out, and soon enough Alfyn was snoring away.

Therion cracked his eye open and stared at the wall. He didn't think he was going to fall asleep again anytime soon.

That morning, Therion woke up to Alfyn spooning him again, an arm slung across Therion’s waist as if this was their usual morning routine. He was less jumpy than the first time this had happened, which was good, but it had taken him another three hours to fall asleep after the stunt Alfyn had pulled, and he felt exhausted. The sun hadn’t come up yet, and the grogginess was making it hard to place the time. Alfyn snored away beside him.

“Alfyn,” Therion said lightly patting him on the cheek. Alfyn blinked his eyes open.

“Mornin’ already?” he asked.

“Not quite’” Therion said, “now get off of me please.”

Alfyn chuckled, but Therion could tell he was doing it to mask the usual nervousness. Therion felt himself start to get nervous too, and moved over as far as he could without falling off once Alfyn had let him go.

“Don’t think I've ever heard you say ‘please’ before now,” Alfyn said.

“I wouldn’t get used to it if I were you.” 

They were still facing each other, and Alfyn had the same look he’d had the night before just before he’d left for the tavern. Like then, Therion cracked first.

“Why do you keep staring at me?” Therion asked. His voice was quiet. He didn't have the energy to be irritated.

Alfyn was smiling, because of course he was. “You're interestin’ is all,” Alfyn said.

“That's a dumb answer.”

Alfyn laughed, and turned to stare up at the ceiling. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

Therion frowned. He couldn't tell what Alfyn wanted from him. Outside of the agreement they'd set up as travelling partners, he didn't know what Alfyn thought of him. It really bothered him that the man was hard to read, and yet here they were sharing a bed as if they’d been friends for years.

“You get angry real fast too,” Alfyn said, and he sounded genuinely amused.

“Given my current company, can you really blame me?”

“And you don't pull your punches either,” Alfyn continued. He sounded so overwhelmingly fond that Therion felt like he was being crushed, even if there was empty space between them on the bed. 

“I don’t get you,” Therion admitted, “every time I insult you, you look like I’d just told you the best news of your life instead.”

“It’s cu- I mean, It’s not like you mean it,” Alfyn said, “like I said, I can tell you’re not that bad a guy.” 

That response only served to confuse Therion more. He felt like he was being thrown off-kilter, and the new territory was starting to irritate him.

“You hardly know me.”

“Because you won’t let me get to know you,” Alfyn said simply. He didn’t sound upset, it was just the honest truth. Every attempt Alfyn made since having met each other usually ended with Therion deflecting or dodging the question, but having it thrown in Therion’s face like that was unpleasant.

“It’s because I don’t know what you want from me,” Therion said.

“Want from you?” The smile on Alfyn’s face had started to shrink. “I don’t want anything from you.”

Therion scoffed. “Yeah right. Everyone wants something from someone. That’s just how people work. They use you, and then throw you away.” 

Alfyn looked hurt. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m just gonna use you and throw you away?”

Therion didn’t know what to say. He didn’t think that about Alfyn at all, but he’d been wrong in the past. He wasn’t expecting Alfyn to take offense to what he’d said. 

“I don’t have anything to hide from you,” Alfyn said. He spoke so softly that Therion almost hadn’t caught it.

It wasn't accusatory, just a simple statement. And it was the truth. There was almost nothing Alfyn didn’t share about himself when asked, and he was so positive and good-natured that sometimes when he smiled at Therion, Therion wanted to pull his scarf over his entire head and just disappear. He knew Alfyn hadn’t meant anything when he said it, and that Therion was being completely unfair right now, but he found himself bristling regardless, and he felt whatever little moment they'd been sharing just now crumbling away.

“Well aren't you lucky,” he said. It came out sounding more bitter than he had intended, but he told himself that he shouldn't care.

Alfyn frowned. “That's not what I meant,” he said. He sounded slightly frustrated.

Therion turned over on his side. “We should get some sleep, we’re heading to the Frostlands tomorrow.” He felt pathetic for running away, and while he knew Alfyn hadn't meant anything by it he still felt thrown off. Alfyn didn't say anything else. After a long, tense, silence Therion heard Alfyn snore softly. Eventually Therion fell back asleep too.

 

 

 

 

Therion knew he had fucked up. On previous journeys between the towns, Alfyn and Therion had chatted back and forth to pass the time. Now, as they left S’warkii and headed further north, neither of them had hardly said a word to the other.

In the beginning, he had told himself that Alfyn chatting his ears off was the last thing he wanted when they had left Clearbrook. Now, he found he missed their bantering and joking around. It was still just the two of them, but Therion felt lonely in a way that he hadn't when it had just been him on his own.

The worst part was that he had no clue exactly how to fix things. Alfyn wasn't mad, that much he could tell. They still ate their meals together around the small fires Therion built when they camped in the snow. They still worked well together as a team when fighting off monsters. But he was also a lot colder. He definitely didn't talk as much. When Therion asked him questions Alfyn never met his eyes, he didn't make jokes, small things like that.

By the time they actually made it to Flamesgrace, Therion had decided that getting two rooms at the inn wasn't just something he should do because he could afford to now (after looting all the rich clergymen), but something he _had_ to do to preserve his sanity. The awkwardness between him and Alfyn was stifling.

Of course, as luck would have it, there was only one room left at the inn. 

Therion hadn't been paying attention to the excuse the innkeeper gave, something to do with tourists coming to witness some ceremony, because he'd been too busy shutting down.

When the innkeeper handed him the key, he took it and pressed it into Alfyn’s hands, and then turned and headed for the door. 

“Where’re you goin’?” Alfyn said. It was the first thing he’d said to Therion in days, unprompted by Therion’s own questioning. The realization made Therion incredibly unhappy.

“Getting some air,” he said. He didn't turn around.

Flamesgrace was his least favorite town by far. It was way too cold, and having to layer so many vests under his mantle to keep warm made it harder for him to move around. It was also harder to steal from people, as the citizens all wore really thick coats and tended to keep their valuables underneath. He still managed to pick the pockets of most of his targets, but it didn't come as easily as he’d liked, and right now he wasn’t in the best state of mind to be extending the energy for just a few leaves. 

As he walked down the street, his mind couldn't help but wander back to what to do about Alfyn. 

 _I should just suck it up and apologise,_ he thought. The idea irritated him of course. Therion had never sincerely apologized to anyone in his life, there had never been any need to. He realised now that the lying and pretending he'd perfected during in the past few yeras wouldn't come in handy here. 

Lost in thought, Therion wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings. Flamesgrace was already pretty dark, the sun constantly hidden behind clouds. Being so far north meant that the sun set early too, and it was already getting too dark to see without the street lights. As he turned the street corner, he walked straight into someone and sent them both to sprawling into the snow. 

Therion wasn’t in the best of moods right now, but even he knew it was better to be polite about this kind of thing when he was trying to stay under the radar. Clearly, the man he had just sent flying had other ideas.

“Watch it,” he growled. Therion frowned. It was a priest, a surprisingly rude one at that.

“Maybe you should follow your own advice,” Therion said, now equally as irritated as the priest. The priest looked affronted.

“I beg your pardon,” he started. He gave Therion a once over, probably looking for something about him to insult, and then he stopped when he spotted the bangle. Therion knew immediately that the priest recognized what it was, and by extension, what Therion was. 

“You’re a thief?” the priest said. Suddenly, he grabbed Therion’s arm. His grip was strong, and Therion found he couldn’t get free. 

“It’s not what you think,” Therion said. He tried to think of what to do. The most important thing here was to try and lie his way out before the priest called the guards, who had most definitely seen a fool’s bangle before.

“Are you taking me for some kind of fool?” the priest yelled. He was becoming increasingly more panicked. 

“Calm down,” Therion said, spreading his palms, “I’m not a thief. I’m unarmed, alright? So if you could just let me go, that would be grea-” Before Therion could finish speaking, there was a flash of steel and an explosion of pain in his right arm. He looked down, and sure enough there was blood seeping into the cloth of his mantle. It was just a small slash - the priest was clearly inexperienced with weapons- but it was obvious that this was no longer a situation that could be solved without a little violence on Therion’s part.

He grabbed the priest’s arm and pulled him forward, kneeing him in the gut. The priest dropped his dagger and fell to the ground. Therion kicked the dagger into a nearby snowdrift and ran. He doubted he was being followed, and the dark had made it hard for the priest to get a good look at him with his scarf up, but he avoided heading right back to the inn just in case. He stopped in an alley between two houses to inspect his wound.

Sure enough, he was still bleeding. Thankfully, it was shallow and not something that he couldn’t just bandage up and forget about, but he was still pissed about it. It wasn’t like him to be so careless about how he moved through towns, and the fact that it was definitely because he’d been distracted thinking about Alfyn only annoyed him further. 

He rifled through his pack and searched for some bandages, before remembering that it was Alfyn that usually carried them. His only option now was the dirty rag he’d been making due with from before he met Alfyn, but it would have to do. After he’d tied it securely around his arm and made sure that he wasn’t being followed or watched, he made his way back to the inn. He made sure to avoid the innkeeper and other patrons as he climbed the stairs, and looked around for his and Alfyn’s room. When he tried the door, he found it unlocked, which was good because it saved him the trouble of having to pick the lock of his own room. The fact that Alfyn had left the door open for him was endearing, even if Therion had instructed him several times not to incase of thieves. 

The room was dark, and Therion couldn’t tell whether or not Alfyn was asleep on the bed. He was definitely lying in it though, his outline highlighted by the dim light of the moon shining through the window. He crossed the room to the table and picked up the lamp that sat there. He snapped his fingers and lit it, technically a waste of energy on his part, but he couldn’t be bothered to find any flint. When he looked down at the bed, he saw Alfyn staring up at him. He nearly dropped the lamp in surprise. 

“I thought you were asleep,” he said stiffly.

“You’re bleeding.” Alfyn sat up.

Therion blushed. Now that the events from earlier had passed, he was feeling a bit embarrassed about the whole thing. He’d fought monsters twice the size of that priest, and the priest himself couldn’t even properly handle a dagger. Definitely not one of his better moments. If he was being honest though, he was also just happy that Alfyn was talking to him again, even if it was just to state an obvious fact. 

“It’s nothing,” he said, “just a scrape.” 

“It’s not nothing.” Alfyn began to rustle through his satchel. He pulled out a familiar salve and motioned to Therion to sit on the bed.

Therion wanted to argue that he could manage on his own, but getting treated for things like this was the reason he’d brought Alfyn along in the first place. He also didn’t want to make things worse now that Alfyn was actually talking to him, so he sat down on the bed obediently and began to remove his scarf and mantle.

“You’ve gotta stop using that dirty rag to bandage yourself up,” Alfyn scolded as he untied it, ‘you’re gonna get an infection.” 

Therion didn’t know what to say. He was scared he’d fuck everything up again. He felt nervous, but at the same time, he was so relieved that he was starting to feel light-headed. Something was bursting out of his chest. 

“I’m sorry,” he said. He wasn’t facing Alfyn to preserve the last bit of his dignity, because he knew for a fact he was still blushing. He couldn’t see Alfyn’s face, and since the apothecary had remained silent, Therion decided to continue. 

“I’m...sorry I said those things about you, you’re not..that kinda guy.” Therion winced internally. He sounded like an idiot. He should’ve rehearsed it, he definitely sounded stupid, there was no way Alfyn was going to forgive him, he should’ve- 

“Therion can you look here a sec?”

Therion, with all the mental strength he could muster, turned his head to face Alfyn.

Alfyn was smiling at him. Actually no, to say he was just smiling was an understatement. He was looking at Therion so brightly, Therion briefly wondered why he'd even bothered to use the lamp when Alfyn could've lit up the room on his own. 

“Your face is as red as a beet,” Alfyn said. Therion made to hide it with his scarf, belatedly realising that his scarf was sitting on the floor some ways away. Alfyn grabbed his hand before he could cover his face with it. 

“No, don’t hide,” Alfyn said softly. At that, Therion's heart, brain and face exploded. At this point, he wasn’t sure how he was still functioning. He felt like he was overloading. 

Alfyn let go of his hand suddenly. “No touchin’, right sorry.”

 “No, you have nothing to apologize about,” Therion said. 

“Whoa,” Alfyn said, “who are you and what have you done with Therion?” 

Therion shoved him. 

“Who did that to you anyways?” Alfyn asked.

The two were lying in the bed now. Therion had dimmed the lamp and climbed in. He stared up at the ceiling.

“Some asshole tried to stab me,” he said. 

“What for? Did you look at em’ wrong or somethin’?” 

“Ha ha, very funny,” Therion said dryly, “but no. It was because of this.” He lifted up his hand and showed off the bangle. It glowed in the dim light of the room.

Alfyn didn’t speak for a long time. Therion felt his heart hammering in his chest. 

“I kinda knew already,” Alfyn said finally. This wasn’t surprising. He had been hiding it from Alfyn sure, but they had still been traveling together. He was bound to find out somehow.   

Before Therion could say anything, Alfyn cut him off.

“Folks have their reasons, you don’t have’ta tell me yours if you don’t want to,” he said. 

Therion considered that for a moment, and decided that there was no point to apologizing if he was just gonna keep doing the same thing in the end. 

“There’s not a lot to it. Just your average street orphan. It was either stealing or starving so, I chose stealing. That’s all.” He decided to leave out all the stuff that came after that for now. He wasn’t ready for that yet. 

Therion turned to face Alfyn and propped himself up on his elbow. 

“Your turn,” Therion said. 

“For what?” 

“Information isn’t free.” 

“You’re awful, y’know that?” 

“And yet somehow, you’re still here.”

“Fine.” Alfyn scratched at his chin. “I don’t ask every stranger I meet to get a drink with me,” he said. Therion stared at him. Alfyn refused to meet his eyes. 

“I think we should sleep now,” Therion said. 

“Good idea.”

 

 

 

 

Therion couldn’t sleep. He’d basically run away again after Alfyn had more or less admitted to liking him in a...romantic way. In retrospect, it had been kind of obvious, it was just that Therion hadn’t been looking for any signs that Alfyn was interested in him beyond their deal. He didn’t really know what to do with that information. If he thought about it, he could finally put a name to that jittery feeling Alfyn gave him whenever he was being particularly cute or endearing.

It was mostly nerves that were keeping him awake. It was one thing to be nervous sharing a bed with someone you hardly knew, but sharing a bed with someone that you had recently discovered mutual feelings for was a whole other thing entirely. As gently as he could, Therion turned over on his side to look at Alfyn. He hadn’t expected Alfyn’s eyes to be wide open, and he was looking right at Therion, which nearly shocked him out of his own skin. Like they had been doing almost every other night they’d shared a bed, they stared at each other in complete silence. 

For once, it was Alfyn that spoke first. 

“Can’t sleep?”

“It’s your fault.”

Alfyn chuckled softly. “Sorry. I couldn’t keep it in. If you’re uncomfortable or anythin’ I can just sleep on the floor.” 

Therion drummed his fingers on the bed in mild irritation. “Don’t.” 

Alfyn’s eyes widened. He rolled onto his back and ran a hand through his hair. “Ok...I won’t.”

“Why are you even awake? Usually you’d be snoring away like a happy camper.” 

“That was an act,” Alfyn said, “I’ve been fallin’ asleep after you actually.” 

Therion blinked in disbelief. “What?”

“It might’ve been easy for you to fall asleep since nothin’ really bothers you, but it’s been kinda hard on me havin’ to sleep next to someone I’ve been carryin’ a torch for for about a month now? So… yeah,” Alfyn said, “I’ve just been pretendin’ to sleep.”

At that revelation, Therion couldn’t do anything but put his hands over his face. He honestly couldn’t believe it. 

“I can’t stand you,” he said into his palms. It came out incredibly muffled, both because of his hands and because he was laughing incredulously into them, but Alfyn must’ve heard him anyways because he laughed nervously himself even though he clearly didn’t understand. 

“What’s that mean?”

“It means what it means.” Therion said. Alfyn frowned. 

“Therion, you’ve gotta explain what you say to me or I won’t get it.”

Therion sighed. He’d had enough of his own bullshit for one day. 

“I really can’t stand you,” Therion said weakly, and then he sat up fully, leaned over and kissed Alfyn square on the mouth. 

It wasn’t a deep kiss. In fact, it was easily the most chaste kiss Therion had ever given someone in his life. All the same, he felt like his face was going to burst into flame at any given moment. Before Alfyn could respond, Therion pulled back. 

“Do you get it now?” he asked. His breath was coming out shakily. 

Alfyn nodded his head so violently Therion was almost worried he’d injure himself. “I get it,” he managed. 

“Good.” And then he leaned in again. This time, Alfyn met him halfway. The second time around, it was still chaste, mostly because Therion could feel Alfyn smiling against his lips. 

“Wipe that dopey grin off your face,” Therion said when he pulled back again. 

“I can’t.” He sat up and put his hands on Therion’s waist. “Is this alright?” he asked.

“Yeah ‘s fine,” Therion said as he moved closer up the bed. He didn’t stop until he was almost straddling Alfyn’s lap. He placed his hands on Alfyn’s shoulders and leaned in to kiss him again.

The third time was not as innocent as the first. Something about their position had awoken something in Therion’s brain. He’d spent the last month or so being awkward and nervous around Alfyn, and it was like he had suddenly flipped some switch in his mind that was telling him it was finally time to do the opposite of awkward, whatever that was. 

They kissed a fourth time, and then a fifth, and by the time Therion had started losing count of how many times he’d kissed Alfyn they’d begun lightly panting into each other’s mouths. Alfyn’s hands had slowly been travelling up the length of Therion’s back under his shirt while this was happening, and it was just on the right side of overwhelming. The jittery feeling was back in full force, but instead of feeling agitated, Therion instead felt excited. He decided to even things out by using Alfyn’s hair to gently tilt his head, and then biting down softly on Alfyn’s bottom lip. Alfyn groaned, his hands stilling on Therion’s body. Therion took advantage of the momentary distraction to lick into Alfyn’s mouth, further deepening their kiss. 

Eventually, Alfyn pulled away for breath, Therion, following his mouth with no hesitation.

“Wait Therion,” Alfyn said. He was breathing hard, and his voice was now a lot rougher. Therion was suddenly incredibly thankful that the inn had only this one room left. 

“What?” Therion said. Given the situation, he wasn’t annoyed at having to stop, but he’d be lying if he said that he wasn’t impatient. 

“Well...as nice as this is...,” Alfyn began, losing focus as Therion kissed the side of his face.

“Yeah?”

“That’s really distracting,” Alfyn said. He was blushing furiously. 

“Kind of the point yeah.”

Alfyn leaned forward until his head was resting on Therion’s chest. He groaned loudly.

“You alright there?” Therion asked. He smirked when Alfyn groaned again. 

“Therion seriously!” Alfyn said. “How far are we gonna go with this?” 

Therion paused. That thought hadn’t really occurred to him once this whole thing had started. Alfyn had continued rambling. 

“Because I’m great with anythin’ you want to do, and I mean anythin’, but I don’t wanna rush you if you don’t want to do it, that’s completely alright with me, and honestly if you want to just stop here we can-” 

“Alfyn,” Therion said. Alfyn trailed off. He was almost unbearably cute and it was taking all of Therion’s willpower to stop himself from saying that outloud. “We can keep going.” 

“Are you sure-” 

“Yes, I want to keep going.” It was Therion’s turn to blush, although at this point he figured it was just par for the course that was this relationship. Alfyn beamed at him, and it was so endearing Therion was tempted to just forsake the rest of the conversation and kiss him again. 

With that out of the way, Therion found there was no reason for him to still have his clothes on. His shirt already left very little to the imagination, but once he’d pulled it over his head Alfyn stared anyways.

“You’ve already seen me shirtless,” Therion said. Alfyn held his hands out, and when Therion nodded they were on him immediately. 

“That was when you were a patient,” Alfyn said, and his voice was really rough again as he traced over Therion’s scars with his fingers, as if he’d forgotten to swallow. “It’s a lot different now.”

Therion snorted. “If you say so doc.” 

Alfyn removed his hands so that he could strip off his own shirt. Once his shirt was off, it was Therion’s turn to stare. Alfyn’s body wasn’t as toned as Therion’s was, but he was definitely not as wiry. His shoulders were broader too. Therion pinched his stomach, which made Alfyn jolt, nearly throwing Therion off his lap. Therion laughed.

“I think you might need to lay off the drink there,” Therion said.

“I don’t know why I let you pick on me,” Alfyn said fondly. 

“Don’t get sappy.” 

“Can’t help it.” Alfyn said, and leaned into Therion and kissed him again. Soon enough they were back to where they had left off. Instead of talking, the only sounds in the air were heavy breathing and loud, hungry kissing. Therion used one hand to grip Alfyn’s shoulder, and the other to light stroke at the hair at the back of Alfyn’s neck. That seemed to make Alfyn even more restless, and he ground up into Therion, which in turn caused Therion to groan in surprise. 

“How’re you so good at this?” Alfyn wondered out loud.

“Well, I’m not a virgin for starters,” Therion said. As if to make his point, he ground his hips down into Alfyn’s, and kissed down his neck for good measure. 

Alfyn began to pant hard, but even that wasn’t enough to get him to stop talking. “Find that kinda hard’ta believe for a guy that hates people as much as you do.”

Therion shrugged. “You don’t have to like someone to fuck them.” 

Alfyn shuddered. It was then that Therion noticed that Alfyn was hard underneath him. 

“Why did...that do it for you?” He was both deeply amused and deeply intrigued. Alfyn blushed. 

“God you’re strange,” Therion said, and kissed him again. 

Therion himself was already hard in his own pants, and while he was having a great time, he was starting to get a little impatient as well. He found the rim of Alfyn’s pants and he attempted to slide them down Alfyn’s waist. Unfortunately, this was hard to do while Therion was still sitting in his lap. 

“Wait a second,” Therion said. He climbed off of Alfyn and laid back until he was resting against the bed’s headboard. Alfyn followed him along the bed, and let Therion kiss him while he slipped his and Therion’s pants off. Now that they were both down to their smallclothes though, it seemed that there was another hurdle they had to get past. 

“Do you want to top or do you want me to?” Alfyn said. It was Therion’s turn to shudder. 

“I was hoping you’d top,” Therion said. He tried not to feel embarrassed by that admission, but it was hard not to when he found his mind wandering back to the first time he’d woken up wrapped up in Alfyn’s arms. 

“Right,” Alfyn said, equally as flustered, “gotcha. Let me just…”

He reached over the side of the bed and began to dig around in his satchel. 

Therion quirked an eyebrow. “Have you been carrying lube in there this entire time?” 

Alfyn nearly dropped the jar. “It’s not lube, jeez. It’s an oil base I use for salves.” 

Beggars couldn’t be choosers, Therion decided. Alfyn returned to his original position on the bed. Before Therion could ask what he was doing, Alfyn had taken both of them in his hand and started to stroke up and down. Therion’s question died in his throat as he tried not to cry out.

“Ah-a little warning next time would be nice,” Therion said, fighting back a moan. Alfyn had rested his head on Therion’s shoulder, and was breathing hard into it in lieu of a response.

Therion pressed his hand into his mouth to stop any noises that might find their way out of him. When Alfyn noticed, he frowned. 

“I want to hear you,” he said. Therion wanted to protest, but dropped his hand anyways. He felt like he should be concerned about how easy it was becoming for Alfyn to get him to do things he wouldn’t otherwise do, but he didn’t care all that much. Once Therion had lowered his hand, Alfyn leaned in and kissed him sweetly. Therion moaned into his mouth. Pre-cum had started to leak onto his abdomen due to Alfyn’s stroking.

“If you want to continue,” he said between heavy breaths, “I suggest you get a move on.” Even though it had been his suggestion for both of their benefits, once Alfyn had actually removed his hand from between them Therion was hard-pressed not to replace it with his own. He settled for watching as Alfyn rubbed the oil between his fingers instead. While Alfyn did this, he grabbed one of Therion’s legs and hiked it up over his shoulder. For some reason, the simple action made Therion even more aroused than he already was. He could feel his face turning red again. 

“You look really nice like this,” Alfyn said, “You’re so pretty.” Therion swatted at him.

“Just shut up and-” he started, but he never got the chance to finish as his words turned into an incredibly loud moan as Alfyn slid the first finger in. 

Alfyn looked at Therion with blatant lust as Therion panted heavily, trying to adjust to Alfyn’s finger inside him. 

“This might just be the best day of my whole life,” Alfyn said with complete seriousness. Therion glared at him weakly.

“Are you ok?” Alfyn asked.

“I’m fine.” He was telling the truth, but it had also been a while since the last time he’d done this. Alfyn leaned forward and kissed Therion’s forehead, and then his cheek. While he did this, he began to move his finger around. Therion was just on the edge of getting impatient again when Alfyn rubbed against his prostate with his second finger, causing him to let out another incredibly loud, borderline obscene moan. By the time Alfyn stuck a third finger in, Therion was on the verge of tears. There was no way Alfyn hadn’t noticed, since he’d been watching Therion’s face with an almost robotic focus. 

“I think you’re uh, good to go now,” Alfyn said breathlessly. Even from where Therion lay on the bed he could tell that Alfyn’s pupils were dilated. 

Therion nodded in response. With that, Alfyn took himself in hand and began to slick himself up with oil. The only thing louder than Therion when Alfyn finally entered him was Alfyn’s own moans. Therion wondered if the rooms were soundproof, and then realised that he didn’t really care even if people all the way over in Bolderfall could hear them. 

“Don’t go slowly,” Therion panted out.

“I ah-wouldn’t dream of it.” True to his word, Alfyn began to roughly thrust into Therion. Therion felt full to the point of bursting, and he wasn’t sure he was going to last very long. Still, it was just short of enough.

Wordlessly, Therion reached for Alfyn’s hand and guided it towards his abdomen, where his erection was leaking against him. Alfyn got the message. Taking Therion in his hand, he both stroked and thrusted into him. Alfyn’s breaths were becoming more and more shallow, he was probably close. The rhythm he’d started with was getting choppier. From where Therion lay on the bed, he leaned up and kissed Alfyn deeply. That seemed to do it for him. Alfyn’s entire body shuddered as he came inside Therion, who followed shortly after. Alfyn pulled out and collapsed on top of Therion, and the two lay there panting for a moment. Eventually, while Alfyn’s weight on top of him was comforting, it was also starting to get too heavy. 

“Do you enjoy crushing me?” Therion asked.

“You’re cute. And warm.” Alfyn rolled over regardless, but not before he had completely wrapped Therion in a hug. 

Therion blushed. He slapped Alfyn’s arm repeatedly out of embarrassment. “Let go of me.”

“Noooo,” Alfyn whined, “just give me ten minutes.” His eyes were closed, but, since it was Alfyn, he was definitely smiling. Therion was torn between pinching his cheek affectionately and punching him.

He chose to sigh loudly instead. “Could you at least get me a rag then.” He could feel Alfyn’s cum leaking out of him, and it felt incredibly disgusting. 

That seemed to rouse Alfyn from his stupor. He nearly rolled off of the bed in his haste to retrieve one from his satchel.

“Sorry,” he said. The blush came back with a vengeance as he wiped at Therion’s abdomen and legs. Therion had intended to do it himself, but found that he had almost no energy. After cleaning up, Alfyn tossed the rag into some distant corner of the room. As soon as he was under the blankets again Therion found himself in Alfyn’s arms.

Therion couldn’t help but smile. 

“Why am I not surprised you’re a cuddler,” he said. 

“I’ve already told’ya why,” Alfyn said. He yawned. Therion turned to face him, and Alfyn smiled sleepily back at him. They still had a few hours before the sun came up. They fell asleep at the same time.

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a simple bed sharing pwp and now it's this monster................ it took 12k words to get to the actual porn.....................hohhg
> 
> the title is a lyric from bigbang's EGO (jp version) and not even really applicable here bc therion sleeps like a baby every single time, which i'm sure you would too if alfyn spooned you to sleep or your money back guaranteed


End file.
